The present invention is directed to a method of replacing a defective electronic component having a plurality of electrical leads which are bonded to electrical contacts of a support such as a single chip package, multi-chip substrates, printed circuit boards (PCBs), or tape-automated-bonded (TAB) tape carriers.
However, if the electrical component is defective, it must be replaced or it must be scrapped. In the case of a multi-chip substrate this requires scrapping the entire module which can be quite expensive. And in particular, certain hard electrical contact bonds, such as gold-to-gold thermocompression and thermosonic bonds have generally been considered unrepairable because of the inability to remelt these bonds without damaging the underlying support. Attempts to remove these bonds by pulling them loose can result in uneven stub lengths or damage to the bonding pad. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,567,643 and 4,806,503 disclose various methods for replacing a defective electronic component with a replacement. The present invention is directed to an improved method of replacing a defective electronic component and is also directed to a bonding tool which is useful in a thermocompression or thermosonic bonding machine for assisting in the method.